Spying on your kids has never been so easy. In the wake of fears over paedophiles 'groooming' children on the internet, parents are now using powerful software to monitor what their offspring do and say online.

The sophisticated programmes, which seem more suited to the world of espionage than a child's bedroom, can record and analyse every word typed into a computer while a child surfs the net.

Some of the software programmes can compile daily or weekly reports and email them to parents who can check for signs of paedophile activity or see if their children have sought access to unsuitable websites. The reports give a detailed breakdown of what the child typed into chatrooms, emails or message boards and also replies.

'There is a genuine threat to children online, but we have increasingly sophisticated tools to help counter it,' said Nigel Williams, chief executive of Childnet International, which lobbies for a safer internet for children.

Last week 'anti-grooming laws' were introduced in Britain which makes it a specific offence for paedophiles to contact children over the internet. The legislation was passed in response to an outcry over at least 16 reported cases in the past three years of children being sexually abused by adults they had met in chatrooms or via email.

The usual pattern of a paedophile 'groomer' is to contact a child, using a false identity and to lure the child into a meeting. Last week, a 14-year-old girl was saved from assault after being abducted by a middle-aged man she had met on the internet posing as a 13-year-old boy. The girl was only rescued by her father, who found her naked in the man's car. The man has been has been charged with attempted rape, gross indecency and indecent assault.

Many parents believe spying software is the answer. 'If someone has ever tried to contact my child over the internet, I could see that it had happened and stop it,' said Constance Audren, 31, whose five-year-old son, Arthur, has just started to use the internet. Audren's MSN software can record exactly what Arthur does on the net.

Software available now includes more than 300 individual programs. Some of the most powerful, such as eBlaster, can capture a child's emails and forward some or all of the text to a parent. Others, such as Cyber Sentinel, will alert a parent that a topic such as drugs, sex or alcohol is being discussed.

Parents may also discover what their children think about them.

The basic way of protecting a child is by controlling what he or she can and cannot access. That is the approach favoured by service provider AOL, which has 'age profiles' that parents can set for their children. However, paedophiles create false identities to establish contact with children and no software yet devised can detect that.

It is thought only 27 per cent of British parents have set up protective software on their computers. Child protection groups are now lobbying for regulations forcing computer manufacturers to include such software in their machines.

'No one would sell a car with the seatbelts as an available safety option. It should be the same with computers. These programmes should be part of the basics that come with the machine when you buy it,' said John Carr, a member of the Government's internet task force on child protection.